Speakers Include

Wrestling market share from silicon power devices

Analyst

The SiC & GaN Power Semiconductor Market: Forecasts and Drivers

Richard Eden - IHS Markit

This presentation will share key findings from the latest IHS Markit Technology report on Silicon Carbide and Gallium Nitride Power Semiconductors. It will present up-to-date ten-year forecasts for the global markets, identifying where these technologies can compete with silicon in terms of device type and application. It will evaluate the likely key applications, presenting a mid-case scenario for both technologies depending on a number of factors. The SiC & GaN wafer substrate supply chain will be discussed. Finally, I will try to answer the question: what is needed to drive a faster ramp up of SiC and GaN revenues?

Shifting Gears: The “GaN-ification” of Automobiles

Philip Zuk - Transphorm

Automobile electrification is radically changing a long- entrenched industry. By 2025, semiconductor content is projected to increase by as much as 50 percent per vehicle. However, with internal vehicle system redesigns comes a hyper-focus on increased system efficiencies. Electric assist HEVs, PHEVs, and BEVs cannot be entirely supported by incumbent power electronics. Enter GaN: the wide bandgap semiconductor material surpassing historical power density, weight and performance metrics. Automobile manufacturers are turning from longstanding Tier 1 suppliers toward innovative power electronics companies using GaN. Learn which vehicle systems benefit most from GaN and how they allow for revolutionary automotive designs never before possible.

Exploiting the merits of GaN and SiC

Peter Friedrichs - Infineon

The contribution will a brief overview about latest developments carried out at Infineon related to WGB power devices. Included are progress in SiC MOSFETs and GaN HEMTS. Product definition considerations will be sketched as well as the resulting performance and reliability of the developed devices. An important aspect for the success of WBG components is the choice of the right package, therefore, a few examples will be given indicating the impact of the right housing choice. Finally, an initial assessment of the impact provided by SiC devices for various pilot applications will be discussed.

While developers are making headway with GaN power devices and applications, the existing
wafer sizes, yields, cost and performance scaling for both GaN switches and diodes have been limited for volume manufacturing ― creating obstacles for mainstream GaN adoption with
competitive cost structure thereby preventing access to a much larger addressable market. As the result of significant R&D and pilot-line validation, Qromis’ solution to high volume, low cost
and scalable GaN manufacturing is a specially-designed fab-friendly substrate material called “QST®” (Qromis Substrate Technology) which supports high quality GaN epitaxy layers (from a
few microns to tens of microns thick) and high performance power device designs thereby paving the way to create a robust GaN power business with large products portfolio (100V to 1,500V
lateral or vertical switches, diodes, ICs and more), all manufactured on the same 8-inch or 12-inch production platform. In this talk, status updates on QST®-based materials and device
technologies, and the products development work, extending from 100V to 1,500V switches and diodes, will be presented. Also, a detailed review of the company’s 8-inch volume manufacturing
status and the power device wafer foundry services for the industry players, in partnership with Vanguard International Semiconductor and Micron Technology, will be discussed.

Accelerating the commercial application of compound semiconductors

Andy Sellars - CS Catapult

Compound semiconductors are set to deliver performance gains in a wide range of applications, from automotive to communications and healthcare. The global market for compound semiconductors is growing rapidly, and is forecast to rise from $66bn in 2016 to $144bn by 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 11%, which is 3 times higher than the equivalent rate for silicon.Compound semiconductors outperform silicon devices in many applications requiring power electronics, RF/microwave communications, photonics and sensing. For example, electronic traction using silicon devices is inefficient, bulky, and requires liquid cooling. Electronic traction using compound semiconductors is much more efficient, but requires a system redesign, which is costly and involves complex technical risks. The Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult is a £50m translational research facility supported by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. Its aim is to accelerate the use of compound semiconductors by helping companies overcome the technical and business risks associated with adopting new technologies. This paper describes how companies can access the Catapult’s world-class capabilities to develop new products, and our strategy of developing evaluation modules to accelerate the adoption of new compound semiconductor devices.

Fast-Loop Assessment of GaN/AlGaN Epitaxial Layers for Power Applications

Mohammed Alomari - IMS Chips

The different GaN wafer providers use different growth reactors, growth recipes and epitaxial layers design, all influencing the resulting device yield and characteristics. IMS CHIPS has developed a Fast-Loop routine, which within a short time enables the structural and electrical characterization of the GaN wafer, correlates the device yield to defects and electrical properties of the wafer, and feeds back reliability parameters to a physics based model which can be directly integrated in common circuit design tools. The results, in the shape of wafer maps, are also used by growth reactor manufacturers and epitaxial layer providers. The Fast-Loop routine thus enables better design and commercial planning for GaN devices, starting from the material source and up to device manufacturers.

GaN-based normally-off Gate Injection Transistors (GITs) with p-type gate over AlGaN/GaN heterojunction are fabricated on bulk GaN substrates. Thickness of insulating GaN buffer layer is increased up to 16 μm for the presented device from 5 μm for conventional GITs on Si. The thick buffer reduces the parasitic output capacitances, which enables fast turn-off switching. The thick buffer on bulk GaN substrates help to improve the crystal quality of AlGaN/GaN so that the sheet resistance is reduced. The resultant RonQoss (Ron: on-state resistance, Qoss: output charge) as a figure-of-merit for high speed switching is reduced down to 940 mΩnC, which leads to high turn-off dVds/dt of 285 V/ns that is twice higher than reported values by GITs on Si. The presented device would enable more energy-efficient and compact systems.

High efficiency at high power density: realization of GaN's promise for power electronics

Tamara Baksht - VisIC Technologies

Awaiting abstract.

High-Capacity Wafer-Scale Solutions for More than Moore Applications

Mikko Soderlund - Beneq

GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have great potential for next generation energy-efficient power switching applications. Due to the fail-safe capability of the switching devices, the normally-off operation with positive threshold voltage (VTH) is highly desirable for GaN HEMTs in power electronics. Key challenges associated with GaN devices are due to high quality conformal dielectric for HEMT gate recess structure as well as vertical MISFET structure. Dielectric layers such as Al2O3, AlON, SiO2, Si3N4, and HfO2 (and composites/laminated thereof) deposited by ALD can address these challenges owing to high conformality of the deposition process. To enable high-throughput manufacturing of such GaN HEMT devices, high-capasity thermal and plasma enhanced ALD systems are introduced.

A Techno-economics look at SiC WBG from Wafer to Motor Drive

Samantha Reese - National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA

Techno-economic analysis helps benchmark and deliver supply chain and manufacturing insights that can be leveraged by decision-makers to inform investment strategies, policy, and other decisions to promote economic growth and competitiveness. Silicon Carbide (SiC) wide-band gap (WBG) technologies is poised to be an integral contributor to the clean energy economy. We use bottoms-up regional manufacturing cost models to show SiC power electronics, manufactured in volume, could result in final product cost parity with those manufactured with silicon. The models are further leveraged to show innovation pathways to lower cost and potentially expanded technology adoption.

SiC and GaN power switches are making in-roads into industrial and automotive applications as reliability concerns are addressed and commercial viability is achieved. Efficiency, power density and system cost reduction drive adoption. Vapor phase epitaxy is the key enabling technology for volume manufacturing of the material stacks required in WBG power devices. In this presentation we will discuss production solutions for SiC and GaN power devices on 150 & 200 mm substrates. As established on our tool-of-record in the GaN industry, full wafer level automation is driving production throughput on 150 mm SiC wafers. Shortest process time enabled by high growth rate processes are leading to significant cost reduction which is a key requirement for the industry.

Simplified SiC Backside Thinning

Sarah Okada - Revasum

Demand for SiC substrates is growing as the demand for SiC-based power and RF devices increases. Yet the adoption of SiC is slowed by cost and by the difficulty of processing the material.
Revasum has developed a streamlined grind and CMP process that eliminates conventional lapping and diamond polishing steps and the associated issues. Revasum’s solution reduces the overall cost to manufacture SiC substrates, in addition to improving quality, productivity and yield -- removing two barriers to more rapid growth in demand for SiC.

As the global compound semiconductor market grows, scaling up substrate size is part of the drive to improve yield and lower costs. With a focus on performance factors including uniformity, collection efficiency, particulate generation, throughput, integration and clean-room footprint, the UF6100 evaporator was designed for metal lift-off processes on 200mm substrates. Design objectives and achieved results are presented demonstrating performance to help enable industry goals.

Finding solutions with heterogeneous integration

Analyst

GaN on silicon market and industry development

Hong Lin - Yole Développement

GaN on silicon has been a promising solution since the very beginning as its potential of CMOS compatibility and reduced cost. In this presentation different markets and applications of GaN on-silicon technology, including power electronics, RF and lighting, will be presented. The competitive scenarios of incumbent technology as well as challenges and main barriers for GaN on-silicon development will be outlined. Key applications for the adoption and their impact on the supplier chain will be presented. How the player and patent landscape would change during the development of GaN on-silicon technology will also be discussed.

Building III/V-devices on CMOS-compatible Si (001)

Wolfgang Stolz - NAsP III-V

The challenges and the state-of-the-art of the monolithic integration of III/V-based device structures on 300mm CMOS-compatible silicon (001) wafers will be reviewed and discussed with respect to defect-free, lattice-matched GaP-on-silicon -templates. These unique GaP-on-silicon 300mm wafer templates form the ideal basis for the subsequent realization of advanced III/V-layer stacks for electronic as well as in particular for optoelectronic/laser/photonic device concepts based on the novel lattice-matched Ga(NAsP)-laser material. The monolithic integration concept of the lattice-matched III/V-stacks with standard silicon-CMOS-based micro- and nanoeletronics will be outlined.

III-V MOSFETs for RF- and Digital Applications

Lars-Erik Wernersson - Lund University

III-V transistors are widely used for high-performance electronics while Si CMOS dominate logic and memories. The III-V performance advantage relates to the advantageous electron transport properties and the rich possibilities for heterostructure design. Si process technology allows for complex circuit design and system integration providing benefits at the system level. The potential introduction of III-V CMOS technology may open new opportunities for RF- and mixed applications, combining the strength in RF-performance with low-power logic functionality. This presentation will highlight status in this field of research with a particular focus on III-V nanowire based MOSFETs.

Dense integration of GaN power switches with CMOS drivers

Jean-Pierre Locquet - KU Leuven

Jean-Pierre Locquet obtained his PhD in Physics in 1989 from the KULeuven for his research on the structural and electrical properties of artificial metallic superlattices. In December 1988, he joined the IBM Research Laboratory Zurich as a research staff member and has since then developed several deposition techniques, tools and processes for the growth of complex oxides and their incorporation into electronic devices. Since October 2006, he is a professor at the KU Leuven, Department Physics and Astronomy and became chairman of the Leuven Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Center. Currently, he coordinates the EU H2020 projects “PHRESCO” and “GANONCMOS”.

Presentation title to be confirmed.

Joining different semiconductor materials can be challenging due to mismatched material properties such as different coefficients of thermal expansion or different lattice structures. Wafer bonding has proven to be a viable way to combine various materials by using interlayers like polymers or metals as well as by direct bonding. However, recent developments focus not only on the bonding of those materials and the bonding interface properties are crucial for the device performance. Nowadays it is even possible with direct bonding approaches to provide different interface properties according to the desired device design. Plasma activated bonding can be used to provide mechanical strength and reduced thermal expansion to thin layers of compound semiconductors bonded to silicon or glass. The recently introduced ComBond bonding process enables oxide-free interfaces with single nm thickness, which are electrically conductive and do not impact the crystal structure next to the bond interface. Hybrid bonding combines the benefits of direct and metal bonding and thus most efficient compact 3D stacked devices can be achieved by heterogenous device and/or our material integration.

5G: Where are we and what's next?

Analyst

Is 5G roll-out a certainty? And will it be good for GaAs and GaN?

Eric Higham - Strategy Analytics

The 5G vision is very ambitious in its scope, promising to fundamentally transform communications and create exciting new opportunities. Enabling this vision is a new era of infrastructure, devices and applications that are likely to be the next big driver for the electronics industry. The question is what part will compound semiconductors play in this growth? This presentation will review the 5G vision and some of the architectures that will enable that vision. It will also discuss the merits, challenges and trade-offs of using compound semiconductor technologies in these solutions.

Building the industry's first 5G front-end

Scott Vasquez - Qorvo

Carriers will be using Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) as the testbed for 5G technology to deliver a truly mobile broadband experience. And now with the release of the 3GPP 5G NR wireless standard, companies have a clearer path to support a variety of uses cases including FWA. Qorvo has selected GaN to address the FWA challenges of cost, size, weight and power demanded by operators across the world. Qorvo is leading in the development of the first Gallium Nitride 5G front-end technology for these active phased arrays.

MMICs - what is needed to get mmWave 5G to work?

Liam Devlin - Plextek RFI

5G is intended to offer a step change in data rates with seemingly infinite capacity, and this challenge can be addressed with a move to mm-wave frequencies where large contiguous bands of spectrum can be made available. Although the mm-wave bands for 5G will not finally be agreed until 2019, much development work is already underway, and numerous demonstrator systems are being designed, assembled and trialed. This presentation will discuss the likely mm-wave 5G bands, and will compare the semiconductor technologies and packaging options that could be used to implement the required mm-wave component functionality. Real-world examples of MMICs designed for 5G demonstrator systems will be presented.

Emerging high frequency RF applications in connected devices and wireless infrastructure require improved power efficiencies at higher output power and smaller form factor at lower cost. GaN is ideally suited for these applications due to its higher power capability relative to silicon and GaAs at higher frequencies. High volume GaN devices require new innovations in MOCVD technology to deliver superior film quality, high yield, low defectivity and high uptime. 3D packaging is the most cost effective approach to integrate these RF devices with silicon CMOS modems. The use of TSVs has been implemented for stacking die to achieve vertical interconnects despite the high processing costs. These 3D concepts require a wafer thinning process to carefully remove the silicon. This talk will highlight innovative MOCVD and wet etch wafer thinning technologies to enable 5G GaN-based RF devices and reduce 3D packaging costs.

GaN material solutions for 5G

Marianne Germain - EpiGaN

While GaN is currently gradually replacing silicon in the RF amplifier front-end of 4G/LTE base stations, a full deployment of the next generation 5G cellular infrastructure calls for even more GaN technology. In order to enable 5G technology to keep its promises, such as of exceptionally high-speed wireless connections, ultra-low latency and enhanced mobile broadband, new GaN material solutions are needed in particular to address the higher mm-wave frequency bands targeted by 5G. We will describe innovative cost-and power-efficient GaN material solutions which are ideally suited at these high frequencies thanks to ultra-thin barrier concepts and optimized buffers for lowest RF losses. All these differentiating material features will be demonstrated in large wafer diameters, up to 150 mm for GaN-on-SiC and up to 200mm for GaN-on-silicon.

High Quality Free-standing GaN Substrates

Qing Wang - Sino Nitride Semiconductor

The bulk GaN substrate has many advantages. Its low dislocation density, high heat dissipation rate, and lack of lattice mismatch and thermal mismatch with GaN epilayers make it the ideal choice for short wavelength LEDs, blue and green laser diodes, high power electronics and microwave devices. In this study, we introduced two new technologies: substrate separation and acid wet aching. High quality 2-inch bulk GaN wafer with a dislocation density of 5-7×105 cm-2 have been obtained by HVPE. The roughness of the final wafer is 0.11nm and the total thickness variation is below 15μm. Furthermore, we have obtained 4-inch bulk GaN substrates with dislocation density below 5×106cm-2. Now we have completed the development of HVPE system for 6-inch bulk GaN substrates, and attained 6-inch GaN/ Al2O3 with our HVPE system.

LEDs: Magnifying margins

Analyst

Revolutionising displays with MicroLEDs

Pars Mukish - Yole Développement

With the increasing success of OLED, and mounting interest in QLED, emissive technologies have already proven their worth and enabled a variety of consumer products with stunning display performance. But microLED could very be another disruptive display technology for a variety of applications. Since the acquisition of startup Luxvue by Apple in 2014 and that of InfiniLED by Facebook-Oculus last year, inorganic LEDs have generated a lot of attention.

Compared to existing LCD and OLED displays, microLEDs offer the promise of high brightness, dramatically reduced power consumption and improved image quality. MicroLED displays could serve the needs of and benefit most applications, spanning from wearable and mobile devices to AR/VR, TVs and even large video displays as demonstrated recently by Sony. So what’s missing? The science is here, but the success of the technology will depend on overcoming a variety of engineering and manufacturing challenges.

Horticultural lighting offers growth opportunities

Keith Strickland - Plessey Semiconductors

Awaiting abstract.

The monolithic full-colour LED and its applications

J.C.Chen - Ostendo Technologies

A full-color LED based on monolithic InGaN-based structures was demonstrated. Different wavelength lights can be obtained by simply adjusting input currents into the device. In addition to three primary colors, other colors can also be achieved by color mixing techniques. A simple growth process used in producing full-color LEDs makes it a practical technology for scalable manufacturing at low cost. This novel LED can replace three RGB LEDs used in current/future devices, such as color-temperature-control white LEDs or micro-LED displays. The manufacture complexity, therefore, can be significantly reduced. Other applications will be discussed too.

Sunlike – Artificial light as good as natural light

Leon Baruah - Seoul Semiconductor

Throughout the evolution of mankind and after the discovery of fire, artificial light sources were created as an efficient way to extend our lives after sunset. However as technology progressed, through extensive research we have learned that there’s more to light than meets the eye. These discoveries have created the need for Human Centric Lighting. Seoul Semiconductor at the forefront of LED technology brings yet another innovation that would change and improve the ever changing dynamics of the modern human life.

Improving LED manufacturing by full wafer cathodoluminescence

Samuel Sonderegger - Attolight

We will give a short introduction to high resolution cathodoluminescence and highlight its capability to detect subsurface defects combined with nanometer scale mapping resolution.
We will introduce example applications where cathodoluminescence can be used to detect defects in III-V manufacturing, research & development and failure analysis. Finally, we will introduce Attolight’s brand new automated full wafer CL tool and focus on particular use cases of the tool to highlight its potential and flexibility in III-V manufacturing and R&D.

Ramping revenues from RF devices

Analyst

While there is always uncertainty around defense budgets, the recognition that technology has a direct impact on force effectiveness will translate into continued efforts to enhance capabilities across radar, EW, communications and other military systems. Off course no one technology will be the panacea for all requirements so incumbent vacuum technologies will continue to be used. However, it is clear that architectural changes supporting a move towards requirements such as broadband performance, higher frequencies and digitization will support use cases for compound semiconductor technologies, so we expect III-V content in military electronics to increase significantly over the coming years.

Wireless Charging with GaN Devices

Nick Cataldo - Efficient Power Conversion

The popularity of highly resonant wireless power transfer is increasing. This technology addresses consumer issues such as source-to-device distance, device orientation when being charged, simultaneous charging of multiple devices on a single source, and higher power capability – and it is safe to humans.
Magnetic resonant systems use loosely coupled coils tuned to high frequencies (6.78 MHz or 13.56 MHz), far beyond the capability of MOSFETs. Also, superior characteristics of GaN devices, such as low input/output capacitance, low parasitic inductances, and small size make them ideal for increasing efficiency. This presentation will discuss the contribution GaN makes in wireless power applications.

Industrializing RF GaN/Si

Timothy Boles - MACOM

Gallium Nitride HEMTs are the latest device/material technology with the performance capability to supplant silicon, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide for the development and production of high power, microwave, and mmW discrete transistors and MMICs. It can easily be argued that the high volume industrialization of GaN can only be based upon the fundamental knowledge found in a mainstream silicon MOS/CMOS fab as opposed to the typical III-V foundry. Use of this technological path will produce a vastly different developmental path, more repeatable results, and lead to mainstream adoption in a much shorter time span. Indeed, for RF GaN to reach full industrialization and be able to produce comparable quantities of GaN-on-Silicon wafer output for high volume, RF markets/applications, an identical design and manufacturing methodology must be implemented.

*All speakers and presentations are subject to change.

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CS International is organised by Compound Semiconductor. With the largest global circulation and history of excellence, Compound Semiconductor remains the most effective and authoritative title for the industry.